When I was studying during deployment, I was moved by my reading, and my spirit was impressed to pray, " ... Father, we ask that You would keep us from sin and that we would not even desire its pleasures, that You would teach us to discipline our bodies, that You would teach us to walk in Your ways, and derive our pleasure completely from You. We ask that You would change our hearts that we would mourn over sin, and that we would be so close to You that we would be sensitive to the sin around us, and we would run from it. I especially pray this for myself, Father. Keep me pure.”
When Someone Asks How They Can Pray for You
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. — Colossians 4:2
Because of their experience in ministry, I asked Chaplain Scott Koeman to give me a list of specific things we can pray for our active-duty military loved ones. The resulting blog post, “How to Pray for Your Military Man” was posted on Excellent or Praiseworthy on November 5th. Prayer is powerful, and I believe it is even more effective when we are specific in what we ask for.
So recently, I asked Chaplain Koeman’s wife Benita, founder of OperationWeAreHere.com, to provide me with a similar list of prayer requests that would apply to the spouse of a deployed military member. If you are that spouse of a deployed husband, you may not think you need to read this list of prayer requests yourself– but wait! Next time someone asks you how they can pray for you, share this list with them; it’s quick and easy. Better yet, print out both lists of prayer requests (his and hers, so to speak) and see if your church will create an insert to put in the bulletin so the congregation knows how to support you both in prayer.
Without further ado, here’s Benita’s list of prayer requests for the heroes at home:
- Pray…that they would trust God and that they would be firmly rooted in Christ and the Word of God and draw strength from Him
- Pray…for joy, hope, endurance, strength, patience, protection and safety
- Pray…against fear, loneliness, fatigue, despair, depression
- Pray… that support would be present when needed, that friends, family, co-workers, neighbors would rise up and extend assistance and encouragement
- Pray…for loyalty and commitment in their marriage, and that their relationship would have trust
- Pray…that their love would grow stronger during the time apart
- Pray…against temptation or inappropriate relationships
- Pray… for a healthy way to fill the hours left empty that would have been spent with their spouse
- Pray…that they would be strong for their children and would have wisdom and discernment in parenting
- Pray…that children would learn how to cope with the deployment (fears, anxieties, sadness) and learn how to express themselves
- Pray…that schools would be understanding and helpful
- Pray…for the time of re-integration – after the happy reunion, the period of adjustment can be tough
Jocelyn Green is an award-winning freelance writer and author of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and Faith Deployed . . . Again. She is also the co-author of Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan, and The Five Love Languages: Military Edition. Jocelyn and her husband Rob live with their two children in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Questions to Share:
1. There are twelve prayer points in the chaplain’s wife’s list. Pick one a day to pray for someone experiencing deployment.
2. Share with your husband how you are praying for him. Monday we will post prayers for wives from Benita Koeman.
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